Fishing Report 5/1/09

The 2009 – 2010 WDFW Regulation books are finally in!

So far, reports on Pacific Halibut have been great south of San Juan and Lopez Islands. Most anglers are launching out of Deception Pass or Anacortes(after getting their gas and bait at Elger Bay of course) to make the trip a little shorter. The guys who’ve been in say they’ve limited every time they’ve gone. Rumor has it that someoe caught a nice sized Halibut out of Elger Bay on Tuesday… but had to throw it back since it wasn’t the right day of the week. What a bummer for that guy. Does this mean that there’s Halibut closer than the San Juans or Admiralty? Well, not usually, but since it doesn’t take much gas to get to Elger Bay, it might be worth a couple hours of time to try, maybe after you drop your shrimp pots on Saturday.

Speaking of shrimping, it opens on Saturday May 2nd. We’ve got cases of Friskies Ocean Whitefish cat food on sale for $18.00 per case. We’ve only got a few cases left so you’d better hurry in!

Today is opening day of Lingcod season in our areas. Unlike Halibut, you don’t need to go far to get some monster Lings. We’ve got pictures on our board of some uglies(I’d say beauties but they really are not in any way beautiful) caught last year at Onamac and other, smaller holes all around Camano. I recommend jigging either a large herring or one of the Zak Tackle 16oz jigs with the sponge at the top of the hook. The sponges are perfect for soaking up the Halibut Feast Smelly Jelly(good for all bottomfish) so that it just drips everywhere while you’re jigging. Great for enticing those cod out of their holes.